Farfalle with Eggplant Marinara Sauce

Dear All,

I have been experimenting a lot with different sauces and dips which can be used with pastas and pizzas. So stay tuned as lots of different pasta recipes will be coming up in next few weeks. One such successfull experiment was Rachel Ray's Eggplant Marinara Sauce. Initially I was little skeptical about this sauce as eggplant in a pasta sauce? I have  prepared curries using eggplant but never a sauce! Some googling and i landed on Pavani's version of eggplant pasta sauce, with such grt reviews I had to give it a try! Pasta are really easy, quick and extremely versatile in nature. You can have them baked, boiled and even rooasted! I love to prepare my pasta sauce at home, even if it takes 15 to 20 mins more, i think its totally worth it!

Most of the pasta sauces you can prepare in advance and freeze them, later on use them whenever required. I like to freeze my basic tomato sauce as it works well with both pizza and pasta and its a real life savior when I come back from long day of work! I also love to add pasta to my soups which makes them more healthier and fulfilling! The best part of pastas is that they are one pot meals extremely easy and no compromise on health and taste!

This is off to Presto Pasta Nights guest hosted this week by Rachel of The Crispy Cook an event started by Ruth Daniels of Once Upon A Feast

My Version of Eggplant Marinara Sauce:
For Roasting: 
2 big eggplants
2 medium tomatoes chopped
Salt and Pepper to drizzle


For Sauce:
1 can crushed tomatoes or 3 medium tomatoes finely chopped
1 red jalapeno, finely chopped
2 medium red onions finely chopped
1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika flakes(optional)
Salt and Pepper as per taste
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano (optional)


Pasta:
2 cups farfalle pasta
4 cups water
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt

Procedure:

• Cook the pasta with water, oil and salt. Drain and keep aside.
  
• Slice the eggplants into halves, drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Roast the eggplants at 200 degrees C for about 45 mins, until tender and golden brown.
  
• Half way through, spread the chopped tomatoes besides the eggplants on the same baking dish, sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and pepper too.
• At the end of 45 mins both eggplants and tomatoes will be roasted. Remove and keep aside to cool. Mash them nicely using your hands or a fork.
  
• In a pan or skillet, heat a tbsp of olive oil, add in onions and jalapenos. Saute them for 3 to 4 mins until soft. Now add in the crushed tomatoes, mashed and roasted eggplants and tomato mixture. Mix well.
• Add in vinegar and season with salt and pepper if required.I also added 1 tsp of paprika flakes to give a spicy kick.
  
• Cook the sauce for 15 to 20 mins on slow-medium heat, until everything is well blended.
• Finally add in freshly chopped parsley and serve hot with pasta.
  

Veggie Mayonnaise Burger..burgers under 30 mins

Dear All,

I know its been few days since i posted last, i have been under the weather from few days and hence not able to post regularly. Hopefully i should be out of this cold and fever in couple of days and will resume blogging. These days cooking has become such a breeze due to the readymade food available in the stores. You name it and you'll get it, right from indian food to italian pizzas. You even get frozen chopped vegetables which sometimes are real life savior. We also get fresh shredded cabbage, carrots and beetroots which is of course little expensive but totally worth it especially during weekdays when you are running out of time. On one such night I made these simple veggie burgers which were ready in under 30 mins and tasted awesome. I am sure these would be a big hit with children and they are healthy too. 

Shab and Hari Chandana have tagged me alphabetically which i have already done here Thank you both for sharing your tag with me :)
Hari Chandana and Priya have passed the "Scrumptious Award" to me, thank you dears.

Sanghi has passed the "Fabulous Blog" award to me, thank you so much and hope to see you blogging soon :)

Lavi has passed the "360 Degrees Foodie" award, thank you so much dear. 

I am passing 360 degree foodie award to:
Nithya
Pavithra
Shabs
Padma
Jenn
Priya
Vrinda
Divya
Ann
Sushma


Padma and Nithya have passed the "Honest Scrap" award to me, thank you so much dears , i am truly honored.

This award comes with the following rules:

1. I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link it
2. I must list 10 honest things about myself
3. I must put a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog.
4. I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers & list their links
5. I must notify the bloggers of the award and hopefully they will follow the above three requirements also.

So here for the honest things about myself:
1. I love to bake cakes but cant have more than one piece myself.
2. I have developed interest in photography and planning to buy a SLR soon.
3. I dont like pubs and disco, never been in one before.
4. I love to play badminton.
5. I am reserved and dont open up easily.
6. I am lazy to cook food for myself but love to cook for others.
7. I hate when people start taking me for granted.
8. I love to listen to songs especially kishore kumar's.
9. I love to watch Friends series and can watch any no of time.
10. I speak too fast, I am trying to work on this.

I am passing the Honest Scrap award to:
Suparna
Avanika
FaizaAli
Nags
Soma
Lisa
Shri
Anushruti
Kiran
Muneeba


Nithya has also passed "The Beautiful Site Award", thank you so much dear, you truly are awesome.

Ingredients:
8 burger buns
1 cup shredded cabbage and carrots
1 cup chopped ice lettuce
2 medium onions, sliced thinly
1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, chopped finely
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper as per taste
1 tbsp fine semolina (optional but recommended)
Slices of cheese (optional)
Butter 

Procedure:

• Mix mayo, cabbage, carrots, onions, jalapenos, semolina along with salt and pepper in a bowl and keep aside for 5 mins.
• Butter the burger buns.
• Arrange the ice lettuce pieces on the burger bun, add a cheese slice, on top of cheese slice add about 2 tbsp of mayo filling finally add some ice lettuce on top of the mayo filling.
• Grill the burgers for 15 to 20 mins until lightly browned and crisp on top.
• Serve hot with ketchup.

German Roasted Potato Salad

Dear All,

When I first started to explore various cuisines I always went for simple and easy dishes which require minimum buying of ingredients. I usually go for bakes as I truly love to bake and the materials required are more or less the same ie eggs, flour, butter etc. I love to try different salads and soups too usually for my dinner, as i like my dinner to be light and fulfilling. Some weeks back i had this delicious salad with mustard sauce dressing in my office cafeteria and fell head over heals in love with the dressing. I have made this dressing many a times at home as its quite easy and personally I love the tangy taste of mustard and vinegar together.

When i came accross Boby Flay's German Potato Salad, i couldnt resist my self and gave it a try right away as the dressing used here is very much similar to my fav mustard dressing. This salad is also known as the Hot German Potato Salad, basically because its served warm. This is a traditional salad from Germany and usually made with bacon. Originally the recipe calls for boiled potatoes but i have used roasted potatoes. 

German potato salad, actually from southern Poland, is a popular variation which is generally served warm. It is typically more sour in taste and contains pork or bacon. Potato salad from northern Germany, however, is generally based on mayonnaise and quite similar to its US counterpart - Source Wikepedia.

Sending this to A.W.E.D German - Hosted by Laskhmi of Kitchen Chronicles an event started by DK of the ChefInYou

Original Recipe can be found here

Ingredients:
4 big potatoes peeled and diced
2 medium onions sliced
1 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp of mustard sauce
Salt and Pepper as per taste
1 tbsp of freshly chopped parsley

Proecudure:

•  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
• Arrange the potatoes in an oven proof vessel, drizzle the olive oil and some salt and pepper. Mix properly so that potatoes are well covered with oil and seasoning.
• Bake the potatoes for 40 to 45 mins until they are cooked. Make sure you turn the potatoes every 10 to 12 mins.
• In a seperate pan, add little olive oil, about a tsp and saute the onions for 3 to 4 mins, until soft.
• Carefully add in the vinegar and mustard paste, along with salt and pepper.
• Take the pan off the heat and mix properly.
• Now add in the oven baked potatoes and mix to cover the potatoes with the dressing.
• Add freshly chopped parsley, adjust the seasoning and serve warm.
• You can serve this salad with some sour cream as well. 

Verdict? An easy and delightful salad when served with sour cream serves as an excellent accompanient for soups and breads !!